then after that, wm up ll ght. "nbc niy news" next.en mloci onhis saturday night, turning point. hinaelp the u.s. nort a to b wn as the world anticipates the regime's next move? tonight, andrea mitchell reports from beijing. miracle at sea. jet liner crashes and breaks in two, everyone on board survives. fight over guns, on the streets and on capitol hill. an emotional plea from a newtown mother as another republican senator comes out in support of expanded background checks. and the legacy of a pioneering american athlete. our look at the new film about the life and times of jackie robinson.

hello, everyone. as we come on the air this evening in the u.s., dawn has broken on another new day in north korea. and the world braces once again for the test of a north korean medium range missile that we have been expecting all week. but in an important new development tonight, china has agreed to step in the middle to try to reign in north korea's threats and ambitions. john kerry has been hopscotching across asia in an effort to dial back tensions. andrea mitchell is traveling with the secretary. she has more now from beijing. andrea, good evening. >> reporter: good eek, lester. secretary kerry claims success, but china complained that the u.s. has been too aggressive in confronting pyongyang. in beijing, john kerry tried to

persuade china's president xi jinping to lean own his ally north korea, arguing that pyongyang's erratic young leader is threatening the stability of the entire region. >> mr. president, this is obviously a critical time with some very challenging issues. >> reporter: in whirlwind meetings with all of china's top officials, kerry won the commitment to get north korea to abandon its threats and restart nuclear disarmament talks. >> china is firmly committed to upholding peace and stability and advancing denuclearization process on the peninsula. >> reporter: kerry claimed china's promise was unprecedented. >> what we agreed to do is immediately bear down with further discussion at very senior level in order to fill out exactly what steps we can take together to make sure that this is not rhetoric. >> reporter: lot of pushback from the chinese.

adstent show of force against pyongyang. the b-2 stealthflyover, the 22 a missile defense systems on guam, japan, and on warships in the south china sea. kerry suggested if north korea steps back from the brink, the u.s. would reconsider those missile defenses. did you discuss with them also the possibility that some of the recent deployments of anti-missile defenses might be redeployed or stood down in pyongyang were to change its behavior? >> if the threat disappears, ie north korea denuclearizes, the same imperative does not exist at that point in time for us to have to have that kind of robust forward-leaning posture of defense. >> reporter: despite today's promises, experts doubt that china will really pressure north korea. its neighbor and close ally, even as it grows increasingly frustrated with kim jong-un's threats. >> they don't want to see north

korea collapse. for this reason, they'll push him a little bit, but won't push the north koreans hard enough in a way that would help to reach a denuclearization outcome. >> reporter: u.s. officials say that china is already tightening its purse strings regarding north korea, but clearly not enough to get kim jong-un to end this crisis and back down. lester? >> andrea, what does china see as its interests in helping to diffusing tensions? >> reporter: china wants stability. the argument from kerry to the chinese leader and as i say, met with everyone including the chinese president, the argument is that it is more destabilizing to go along with your long time ally, north korea. so china resents and resists and fears american force, wants that buffer of north korea between china and the american allies of south korea and japan. but the argument now is that kim jong-un is so unstable, that that is a bigger threat and that

they should put up with america in order to get him to tone it down. >> andrea mitchell in beijing. andrea, thanks. on the island of bali, a miracle in the sea after a passenger plane crashed into the ocean and all of the 108 people on board survived. the crash happened as the lion air jet approached the runway and came up short. while the circumstances are quite different, the outcome is reminding many folks of another aviation miracle here in the u.s. a few years ago. annabel roberts has more. >> reporter: just short of the runway, the boeing 737 sits in the sea, wreckage from the brand-new jet floating nearby. rescue boats rushed to the plane, carrying 101 passengers and 7 crew. this man said the crew announced that the plane was about to land and then he heard a loud noise and saw they were next to the runway and on the water. survivors said people screamed water. plane began to fill w

put on life jackets, climbed out, and swam to shore while others escaped on inflatable rafts. >> the impact on the water was obviously hard. the plane did not disintegrate and the passengers survived. that is a miracle, minor miracle initself.eporr: about 40 were injured, suffering head wounds and broken limbs. the plane has a large crack in the fuselage, behind the wings. these images reminding us of th mirle landing on new york's hudson river, four years ago. >> that was a case of brilliant rmanship. >> reporter: but experts say it is too early to speculate what went wrong on today's flight. lion air is indonesia's fastest growing budget airline but is currently banned from flying in europe because of safety issues. an investigation is now under way into the cause of this crash. pilot error or mechanical failure, the 108 people on board are tonight lucky to be alive. annabel roberts, nbc news, london. here in this country, new developments today in the debate

over guns, including an emotional plea from the mother of a 6-year-old boy killed in newtown. and exclusive reporting tonight that another republican senator will vote for expanded background checks. we have both parts of the story covered tonight, beginning with nbc's kristen welker at the white house. kristen? >> reporter: lester, good evening. the senate will take up debate on the gun legislation this coming week as the passionate public discussion wages on. across the country today, from atlanta to indiana and pennsylvania, people rallied to demand tougher gun laws. >> a background check is just a baseline common sense thing to do. >> this is a public safety issue. >> reporter: but some gun rights advocates protested against new laws. >> please, don't attack our rights as citizens. we're here. we're law-abiding citizens and we're being the ones victimized for this. >> reporter: but it is this woman whose voice may resonate the most. >> as you pced, i'm the pr

>> reporter: for first time ever, the president turned over his weekly address to a private citizen, francine wheeler is a grieving newtown parent. >> david and i have two sons, our younger son, ben, age 6, was murdered in his first grade classroom on december 14th, exactly four months ago this weekend. >> reporter: wheeler was among the newtown families who spent the week on capitol hill, pressing congress to act and working in concert with the white house, going senator to senator, the wheelers and other parents shared their stories. the conversations helped persuade the senate to allow debate on the new gun legislation, which would expand background checks, a compromise deal worked out by democratic senator joe manchin of west virginia and pennsylvania's republican senator pat toomey. the national rifle association launched new ads against the legislation, arguing that it limits the rights of law-abiding citizens. meanwhile, the nra was criticized for sponsoring a nascar race in texas today,

which culminates in a pistol wielding celebration. connecticut senator chris murphy asked fox not to air the race, but the event will go on as planned, as does the emotional debate over guns. >> please help us do something before our tragedy becomes your tragedy. >> reporter: now, it is nine in ten americans supporting background checks for firearm sales, one poll found that's more popular than baseball and apple pie. lester? >> kristen welker at white house. as we said, we have learned exclusively tonight that a key republican senator now says she will vote for expanded background checks. nbc's kelly o'donnell is in washington with details on that. kelly, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. i spoke with maine republican senator susan collins today, who said she had not told anyone abt her plan to vote yet, until our conversation. collins is up for re-election next year from a state that had among the highest rates of gun ownership. she he key factor for her, this bill does not require

ound che indidls sales or atth nrn, toomey. she sshwa deeply moved meeting with newtownamilie and has photos they gave her on her desk. collins was with them while she was supposed to be dining with the president wednesday. she told the president she was embarrassed to be almost an hour late. he said, good call. lester? >> kelly o'donnell, thank you. story developing now at the u.s. military detention facility at guantanamo bay, cuba. nbc's michael isikoff reports that guards raided the largest camp at guantanamo early this morning, and fired nonlethal shots as they tried to end a growing protest. military officials say the raid was ordered after detainees covered up surveillance cameras, blocking the views of guards. more than 40 detainees have been engaged in a hunger strike because guantanamo remains open. >>ew development today in the case of a texas d.a. who was murdered along with

his wife in their home last month. authorities arrested 46-year-old eric williams. he's charged with making a terroristic threat after searching his home. williams is the former justice of the peace in kaufman county, a position he lost last year, when the d.a.'s office convicted him of theft. he has not been named a suspect in the murders. in augusta, georgia, tiger woods is once again the center of controversy. it stems from a penalty during yesterday's action at the masters. woods hit a shot into the water on the 15th hole, and was forced to take a ball drop. he went on to explain his actions in an interview last night with espn. >> i looked over the drop area, it wasn't very good, into the grain, tough shot. so i went back to where i was and i took two yards, you know, further back and tried to hit my shot another two yards off of what i felt like i hit it. >> and that's where the trouble began. for more, i'm joined by dave

briggs of nbc sports. what happened? >> tiger had three options there. he chose to drop, as he said, near his original shot, but as we later learned, was two yards further back. tiger then proceeded to finish his round, masters officials reviewed the video, they deemed this illegal drop, but only after receiving a phone call from a television viewer, who called in a rules violation to augusta national. they heard tiger in the sound bite discuss with reporters the violation. this morning, they then penalized tiger two strokes for what they deemed a now illegal drop and controversy soon followed because nick faldo, who the three-time masters champ said woods should actually withdraw, several others including david duval, piled on, calling r disqualification. >> now, masters officials seem to be taking some heat at a news conference. >>ell, for goothas had a chance. nd this ibelieve, they

did the right thing. but in broader context, augusta could have looked like the same original club that for decades didn't allow women and 24 hours earlier penalized 14-year-old tianlang for slow play, or allow that they made some mistakes and owned up to it. they made the right call. tiger is in pursuit, in contention for his 15th major title on sunday. >> dave briggs for nbc sports, good to have you on tonight. thank you. new winter alerts across the great plains and upper midwest for early next week. snow totals of 8 to 18 inches are possible for montana to north dakota through monday. the nasty weather moves east by midweek, bringing potentially devastating thunderstorms to cities from oklahoma city to st. louis and chicago. welcome to spring. when "nbc nightly news" continues on this turday, our special series immigration nation. and the enormous challenge of securing the border. and later, the man who broke baseball's color barrier, a look at the new film about jackie

robinson.

we are back now with the complex issue of immigration reform and our serie "immigration nation." tonight we look at border security, a problem many consider central to the overall debate. in a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll, 17% say the border is mostly secure. that reality comes in to focus

when you travel to the texas and arizona borders as mark potter did with us. >> they are running. >> reporter: despite a dramatic drop in illegal immigration nationwide, there is now a rise in mexicans crossing the border, as many flee the poverty and violence in central america. drug trafficking is also rampant here, enflaming the arguments over comprehensive immigration reform. >> we have here an unknown grave, unknown person. >> reporter: benny martinez is the chief deputy of brooks county, texas, 75 miles north of the border. last year officials there found the corpses of 129 immigrants who died after crossing the border. martinez fears immigration reform will spark even more illegal border crossings. >> it has to -- it just makes sense. it will increase the volume of people coming across. >> reporter: elsewhere in southern arizona, nbc news hid motion sensitive cameras and

recorded these images of drug smugglers crossing private land. it is a concern for this arizona rancher and mother, who would only speak with her face hidden and who says smugglers routinely cross her land. she argues immigration reform cannot begin without first securing the border. >> i would say that's definitely not secure. at all. and until you can stop that, really any talks about anything else is just a waste of time. >> reporter: but another view is that a comprehensive immigration agreement could actually help secure the border, by reducing the undocumented immigrant flow. >> they're crossing the north/south road. >> now you free up agents to focus on narcotraffickers, who continue tolague our bo >> reporter: but homeland sety litanoays it is not only important to regulate the immigrant flow, but also to crack down on hiring violations. eant easier for plerto verify the legal residency, the legal presence of those who are working.

and we want to make it more difficult for someone in the country illegally to find a job. >> reporter: while most agree that current immigration system is broken, the argument persists over how to repair it without threatening border security. mark potter, nbc news, tucson, arizona. when we come back, an intriguing look at the north korea we haven't seen.

for weeks now, the united states and the world had been preoccupied with tte words and images coming from north korea and inuts tested new leader. tonight we have a chance to see a different viewan nsome o p th to the woo ap photographer in to the country. nbc's ian williamses that story

for ustonight. >> reporter: in spite of all the blood curdling rhetoric, life in north korea goes on as normal, or what passes as normal in this isolated state. instead of preparing for the nuclear war promised by its leader pyongyang is taking a holiday, culminating in the celebration monday of the birthday of the nation's founder, kim il-sung these striking images of the latest work of david gutenfelder, the chief asia photographer. >> one of the most powerful thing to do is take a picked of everyday people. >> reporter: there is enormous power in the mundane ordinary life in the militarized society, caught almost in a time warp. from the schoolchildren, brooms in hand, off to clean the central square, to unguarded moments, glum looking during a ceremony to induct them into the korean children's union. throh his lens, the warmongering images and rhetoric are background noise to the real challenges and drudgery of everyday life.

>> little moments in life change people's attitudes and break down barriers. >> reporter: it is easy to forget that before he started impersonating a bad james bond villain, kim jong-un was trying to portray himself as a modernizer with a glamorous young wife, even a new friend in former nba star dennis rodman. and while kim is threatening armageddon with more passion even than his father, groups heading there for monday's holiday sees preparation for war. >> it appears to be the same as the other 100 plus times i've experienced it, it doesn't appear to be any added tension. >> reporter: nobody here is heading to the bunker. his photographs of everyday life offer a strange reassurance that war is perhaps not quite as imminent as their leader suggests. ian williams, nbc news, beijing. up next for us tonight, a new look at the man who changed baseball and all of america. >> playing ball. >> play ball!

for many baseball fans, the number 42 holds an almost sacred significance, the man who wore it changed the face of america's past time, and helped change america itself. so it is only fitting that jackie robinson's story would one day be immortalized in a big budget hollywood film. that day is here. nbc's rehema ellis has more. >> reporter: in 1947, the brooklyn dodgers, jackie robinson marked the beginning of the end of all white baseball.

>> jackie robinson opens with a home run into the left field seats. >> reporter: his historic journey remembered for first time in a major hollywood movie with newcomer chadwick bozeman. >> give me a number on my back and i'll give you the guts. >> you want to get it right for everybody who view him as a hero. you know children will be introduced to him based upon your performance. >> reporter: and the film chronicles a painful time in american history as robinson endured racist slurs and violence from players. his widow rachel now 90 years old in an interview to air on sunday's "meet the press" remembers her husband as a pioneer. >> anything he did that was contrary to what was expected might destroy the opportunity. so he was careful and patient in his behavior on the field and off the field.

>> reporter: the star athlete opened doors of opportunity for other african-americans. an inspiration to dwight who started a harlem little league. how important is it that the kids are playing on a field named after jackie robinson when most of them have no idea who he was? >> you're right. most of them don't. that's why we're really excited about this movie coming out, that will help us teach the history. >> reporter: robinson's history still resonates, even for 8-year-old claude knight. >> white men did not like to play with black men, but he overcame those challenges and became one of the greatest baseball players. >> reporter: the movie celebrates the player, who helped changehe game, and set the stage for changing the country. >> maybe tomorrow we'll all wear 42. that way they can'tl u apart. >> reporter: rehema ellis, nbc news,york. that'snighy news" for this saturday. i'm lester ht reporting from new yo. i'll see you tomorrow morning on "today." and then right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

her story is a troubling one and it has provoked emotions from people across the nation. >> today, we learned another memorial is being planned for 15-year-old audria pott, earlier

this week, three teenage boys were connect with the crime of raping her. in this case, her pasrents want her name and face to be shown so it will not happen to anybody el else. >> reporter: the three teenage suspects are being held here, there are hearings are scheduled for monday or tuesday. the boys, all 16 years old are accused of sexually assaulting this 15-year-old while she was unconscious at a house party. photos were taken of the attack and circulated through text messages and online. a little more than a week after that assault, audrie took her own life. a